Addition of NaBH4 to ketones to give secondary alcohols

by James

Description: Addition of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) to ketones gives secondary alcohols (after addition of acid) Content available for Reactionguide members only. Not a member? Get access for about 30 cents / day!

It can; you might find this to be somewhat textbook dependent. In practice, it can go either way. To get addition to occur exclusively on the carbonyl carbon, sometimes cerium trichloride is used. Google “Luche reduction”